Types of Dentists: General Dental Professionals and Periodontist

People may or may not know that various types of dental professionals care for people’s oral health. These experts are highly trained medical service providers who specialize in treating a person’s mouth and teeth. Oral health is very important to a person’s overall health, and it might contribute to different conditions and diseases like endocarditis, pneumonia, cardiovascular diseases, birth, and pregnancy complications.

Why are various kinds of dental professionals needed?

Over the years, a lot of patients have asked experts what the difference is among various specialists and general dentists. Some also ask why one clinic does not have all the kinds of dentists working under the same roof. We need to think about it this way: pregnant women see their obstetrician-gynecologists for their annual check-up.

For more info about OB-GYNs, click here for details.

These professionals can perform breast examinations and pap smears and care for them when they are pregnant and about to deliver their babies. Some physicians in this specialty choose to only practice gynecology and not obstetrics.

Say the pregnant woman receives questionable test results during their annual examination, and their unknown mass appears to be cancerous. The patient would see an OB-GYN, who would only see patients diagnosed with cancer and practice in separate clinics.

Not only that, obstetrician-gynecologist and gynecologic oncologists perform a lot of procedures, use many different supplies and equipment, and see their patients with various emotional needs, which is an excellent decision to have subspecialties under different clinics. It is the same with how different types of dental professionals can work. To understand the various kinds of dentists, here is a basic explanation of the education and focus needed for each profession:

Education required for different kinds of dentists

The dental school is a 4-year post-grad program to get a degree which is either a Doctor of Dental Surgery (DDS) or a Doctor of Dental Medicine (DMD), depending on what school a person attends. After graduation, the dentist needs to take a state board examination to become a licensed professional in the state they are planning to operate.

Check out https://www.online-phd-degrees.com/doctor-dental-surgery-dds for information about DDS programs.

Suppose someone wants to be a specialist in this industry. In that case, they need to attend a residency program in the same field, in addition to the education that medical physicians need for their specialties. Let us now explore the various kinds of dentists and how they can help the public.

General dentist

Graduates from these schools can practice this profession. With their license, they can perform dentistry procedures in their clinics. For instance, they love to make root canal procedures, some love doing tooth extraction. The typical general dental professional will stick mostly to hygiene care and restorative dentistry in their clinics.

It includes (not limited to) emergency and initial examination like oral cancer screenings, periodic hygiene examination and cleaning, gum treatments for gum-related problems, white fillings to repair broken or decayed teeth, veneers and bridges, porcelain crowns, teeth whitening, and implant porcelain crowns.

Some clinics also offer Invisalign, a dental treatment procedure. Because a lot of their patients need more specialized services, in addition to their usual general services offerings, some clinics work with endodontics, periodontics, and associates who perform a lot of treatments like Botox, complicated extractions, and other complex treatments.

Periodontist

These professionals focus on patients’ issues with their oral tissues, bones, and gums, which support their denticles. To help explain bone loss to patients, experts compare the support of their teeth with the bone around it, like fence posts that are placed into the ground using concrete around it.

When a fence post has enough supportive concrete around it, it is stable and pretty strong. If the same fence post has little concrete around it, the post can be moved easily and is neither strong nor stable. A similar situation happens when patients lose the bone in their mouth surrounding their teeth; the tooth becomes loose and mobile.

When it’s determined that the person has signs of bone loss during their preventive, routine, or hygiene visit, experts usually schedule a deep cleaning session. A lot of times, using local antibiotics to help make their gums healthy again, as well as train clients how to improve their oral care.